Abstract

Objectives: We tried to investigate the effects of lunar phase on Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL) related pain. In addition, correlation of various clinical parameters with the pain perception during SWL procedure, were also investigated. Methods: A total of 378 patients who underwent first SWL sessions for renal or ureteral stones were prospectively enrolled in the study. The degree of pain perception during the procedure was evaluated with 10-point visual analog scale (VAS) and pain questionnaires. The date of SWL was allocated to dates and times of lunar phases as: newmoon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbus, fullmoon, waning gibbus, last quarter and waning gibbus. Results: Mean VAS scores in first quarter (2,41±1,06) were significantly lower when compared to mean VAS scores in waning crescent (3,58±1,83) and waning gibbus (3,42±1,98) (p=0,005 and 0,041, respectively). No statistically significant differences were observed when other lunar phases were compared between each other. Mean pain scores were not affected from gender, age, body mass index (BMI) and stone characteristics (stone laterality, burden and location). Conclusions: SWL procedure performed in first quarter of the lunar phase may become less painful. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which evaluated the effect of lunar phase on post-SWL pain outcome. Thus, additional randomized studies with larger series may be more informative.

Ghana Med J. 2017 Dec; 51(4):181-186.

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Comments
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I am not familiar with the working habits at the Department of Urology in the Antalya Training and Research Hospital in Turkey and unfortunately the authors did not report the date and days and hours when the treatments were done. But at least for the unexperienced reader a look at table 2 reveals a surprising relation between the moon periods, the working load and the VAS scores:

The moon calendar has 29, 53 days and each phase has 3,69 lunar days. During every second moon phase the case load dropped significantly and the VAS scores were lowest. May be there was more time to take care of the patients during these intervals. The authors summarized with a statement that accompanies many other “moonless” papers:”Although, our study has a large study population including 378 cases, some subgroups related to moon phases have relatively small sample size. Future studies with randomization may give more conclusive data.”

[img]http://storzmedical.com/images/blog/Tokgöz_H.JPG[/img]
From Wikimedia :https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fases_lunars.png
I am not familiar with the working habits at the Department of Urology in the Antalya Training and Research Hospital in Turkey and unfortunately the authors did not report the date and days and hours when the treatments were done. But at least for the unexperienced reader a look at table 2 reveals a surprising relation between the moon periods, the working load and the VAS scores:
[img]http://storzmedical.com/images/blog/Tokgöz_H1.JPG[/img]
The moon calendar has 29, 53 days and each phase has 3,69 lunar days. During every second moon phase the case load dropped significantly and the VAS scores were lowest. May be there was more time to take care of the patients during these intervals. The authors summarized with a statement that accompanies many other “moonless” papers:”Although, our study has a large study population including 378 cases, some subgroups related to moon phases have relatively small sample size. Future studies with randomization may give more conclusive data.”